Taking Notes From Honors Physics...

So it started, I made the venture upstairs to the science section of the high school... I have met a few teachers earlier in the year and I already knew which teacher I wanted to visit. I have not ran into a teacher in Bellwood who was not open to helping me, so I wasn't really worried about asking to observe the class! I went to her room and asked if it would be possible to set up a time, and she showed me her schedule. I decided that I was going to visit her College Honors Physics class, if the students pass the class, and the tests that go along with it, they receive 4 credits from University of Pittsburgh! I thought that it would be fun and informing to watch this class full of intelligent seniors!

The lesson title for the day was, " Why do people hear sounds differently than others"? ...this really got me thinking and I did not actually know the answer! I found out that the answer was the Doppler effect and that people hear things differently because of the pitch and frequency of the sound waves! The teacher had a "pill" that made a siren noise... she turned it on in front of the class and everyone agreed that it did not change tones and that it was a steady "volume".

Students stand in a circle, listening to the pitch of the "pill"
as the teacher swings it around in circles, explaining why
it sounds the way it does! How fun! 

Next, we transitioned outside where the teacher tied the "pill" to a string and started spinning it around in a circle; the "pill" started to make a siren noise...but how, we already agreed that the pitch stayed the same?! I thought the demonstration was a great way to get students interest and to help them understand sound waves and how they work! 

This teacher did a lot of things that I liked, here are some of those things: 

1. I liked that the teacher displayed the objectives on the board, this gave me a good idea of what the lesson was going to be about and it started the thinking process!
2. I liked that the teacher had a demonstration, for me, using a demonstration like that is the best way to learn! I also liked getting out of my seat and going outside for about 5 minutes! 
3. The teacher was fun, she was very easy to get along with and she had most of the students attention throughout the whole class!
4. The teacher never "gave" the students information, she used questioning and examples to "pry" the information out of students... the students seemed to enjoy the class period! 

As some may know, physics is definitely not my strongest subject! It was nice to see an experienced teacher in action, teaching a different course of study! 

Mike Swartwood